"Me and Earl and the Dying Girl" is alive in all the right ways.

A jerk with an opinion.
An explorer of transgressive cinema.
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1. This quirky, funny, sad story is one of the best films of 2015.

2. It's about a high school senior, Greg, who hates himself. He has a "coworker" named Earl, who he has known since kindergarten - but he refuses to call Earl his friend. They get to know Rachel, a fellow student who is dying of leukemia (yes, it has a similar theme to 2014's "The Fault in Our Stars". But this movie is way better).

3. Greg and Earl have a hobby to make really terrible spoofs of classic movies. Hardcore cinema fans will have fun with this.

4. I'm still trying to figure out why there are so many references to Werner Herzog in this movie.

5. The movie begins basically as a comedy. But there's an almost unnoticeable emotional slide downward; eventually, things that would have been hilarious 30 minutes before just aren't very funny anymore. A few scenes are funny and sad at the same time, and I wasn't sure how to feel.

6. The movie repeatedly heads towards stereotypical romantic subplots, but then veers into a different direction. There are more important topics to explore than romance here, and the movie takes the time to examine these issues.

7. The movie is about lying, especially to yourself, and why you would even do that.

8. It's about keeping hope alive, and it's about facing reality.

9. The movie blatantly rejects the Hollywood versions of teen dramas. It's very smart, and does a good job of walking the line between genuinely being emotional and just being manipulative. Mainstream audiences may not totally connect with this film. To me, it's an instant classic of kids learning to not be kids anymore.

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